The adaptation of The Frost-Giant's Daughter aka The Gods of the North is finally here.
Jim Zub's Frozen Faith part III: Gods of the North.
In the plains, on the red-stained snow, Wulfhere lies dead with all of his weapon-men. Only one Vanir still stands, and it's not Bragi.
Now only two players remain on the ice. It's Conan vs Heimdul. Conan murders Heimdul.
Atali, the Frost Giant's Daughter, appears, the luster of her golden locks blind Conan. Conan thinks that Niord might have been ambushed. Atali compels Conan to follow her into the wastes of the north.
Atali's father, Ymir, calls upon his giant sons, the brothers of Atali, to annihilate an exhausted Conan. Conan rises to the challenge and slays both brothers.
Conan, still consumed by lust madness, finally catches the daughter of Ymir. The golden haired witch cries out to her unseen father to be saved from Conan's nympholepsy. Enveloped in a cold blue flame the Frost King's daughter vanishes.
Horsa and Niord find our boy Conan out cold in the snow. The giant corpses are gone. Only Conan's tracks are visible on the sleet. Was Conan hallucinating the whole time? Was it just a fever dream?
Gorm mentions seeing Atali on the bloody field of Wolraven, when he was a much younger man.
Conan finally notices that he is clutching a gossamer garment that was clearly never fashioned by human hands.
What I did like:
Frank Frazetta art appears in this issue.
An advert promoting the excellent Heroic Legends Short Fiction Program.
The Doug Braithwaite tetraptych! Combine covers #13-16 to form another cool Conan quadriptych. Do it! Do it, now!
Atali reminds me of The Witch (Cassandra Gava) from the 1982 Conan the Barbarian movie directed by John Milius.
Atali is on almost all of the variant covers. Bravo!
Archaeologist Jeffrey Shanks talks Norse mythology, Bifröst (burning rainbow bridge), Heimdall, Gudrun/Kriemhild, King Atli, Weird Tales' rejection, Charles D. Hornig's fanzine: The Fantasy Fan, Star-Studded Comics #14 (1968), Savage Tales #1 (1971) and Conan #2 (2004).
What I did not like:
Robert E. Howard is not credited on the cover or in the credits of the adaptation. Extremely disrespectful.
Heroic Signatures trying to be Dark Horse Comics. Keep doing your own thing instead.
Are the ice-giants related to The Smurfs/Les Schtroumpfs?
Ymir is now portrayed as an overprotective father.
Robin Recht's exceptional adaptation of The Frost-Giant's Daughter is ignored. Not cool.
The 1993 Season 2 episode of Conan the Adventurer (The Frost Giant's Daughter by Jean Chalopin) is ignored.
NO mention of King Conan: Crown of Iron!
NO variant cover featuring Boris Vallejo's 1989 painting of Daphne and Apollo!
NO variant covers by Frank Frazetta! What?!
NO variant cover by Simon Bisley!
NO letters page! Shame on you, Heroic Signatures.
I give it a 7/10. Blue in the face? Stop holding your breath in anticipation. It's finally here. This is Zub's adaptation of Robert E. Howard's The Frost-Giant's Daughter aka The Gods of the North. If you are a Howard purist you do not need to purchase the filler issues: 13, 14 and 16. Next issue, Conan will be going to old Gorm's secret underground Atlantian laboratory to analyze the gossamer veil and he will be shocked to discover that it is connected to the... BLACK STONE. Just kidding... let's hope I'm wrong.
